Love at its Finest
by skippidyskipskip
Summary: Kim has always had a crush on Jared. What will she do when she finds out that Jared returns those feelings? Will she dive in, or will she flee?
1. Chapter 1: Normal

**So yeah, this is my new story for those who have been reading Sworn Protector. This is just a little background on Kim, and I could not continue writing Sworn Protector until I got this new story out because it has been stuck on my mind for WEEKS! Don't worry though, I am still writing sworn protector and will until it is completely finished. I am just going to be writing Sworn Protector along with this story. I just have so many ideas that I have to get out or I will burst!**

**I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own Twilight. This is just me expanding my imagination.**

**For those of you who are reading strictly for Kim and Jared, this is my first Kim and Jared story and I am extremely excited and nervous about it. I really hope you like it and please review so I can know your thoughts on this first chapter. I honestly think that Kim is the most like me out of all of the imprints, so, so far it is really fun writing this. Please review so I can know what your thoughts are and if you have any ideas on how the story should go, please let me know! :)**

**-S.**

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_"Imperfection is BEAUTY, madness is GENIUS, and it's better to be absolutely RIDICULOUS than absolutely BORING.." -Marilyn Monroe_

Normal. That's what I am. I'm not part of the populars, but I'm not a complete friendless loser. I'm an inbetweener. I have some friends that are popular, and some friends who other people see as complete losers. I'm one of those people who are friends with everyone, but I don't have a true best friend that I can tell everything to. Sure, I have people that I consider my best friends, but I can only tell certain friends certain things. It really sucks not being able to have someone that I can tell absolutely everything about myself to. Some guys like me, but some guys only consider me "one of the boys."

I'm not ugly, but I'm not drop dead gorgeous. I have straight, dark brown, almost black hair that goes down to my waist. It's so thick that I can't curl it, and I can hardly keep it in a pony tail. I also have straight across bangs. They're pretty new, but I only got them just so I could try out something different. I have tanned skin, just like everyone in this school has. I'm full blown Quileute. My name doesn't mean as much as the Ateara's, the Blacks, or the Uleys, but I am still a Clearwater. My Aunt is Sue Clearwater and my Uncle is Harry Clearwater, for Uncle Harry is my dad's brother. My cousins are Leah and Seth Clearwater. They're my only cousins. I'm five foot seven and I have big brown eyes that look as if they are almost black, and I feel like my eyes are too big compared to the rest of me. I also have full, pouty lips, and perfectly straight teeth; no braces needed.

I'm a runner, and I used to do competitive cheer, but I quit because I'm extremely lazy. Most of my classes are AP classes, but I get normal grades: Some A's, some B's, and sometimes C's. That's how I can describe myself. Just a normal teenager. I used to be popular. My freshman year I was best friends with Jeanette Ludwig and Lizzy Helfert. Our parents considered us out of control, and we were. I dyed Lizzy's hair black, and cut it to her shoulders when her hair was down to her waist. At the time, my hair was also to my waist. Jeanette, Lizzy, and I all took our first shot of alcohol together, and we each held back each other's hair whenever we puked it all back up. We would get in the car with random guys without even thinking about the consequences. February came around, and that's whenever I laid my eyes on the most handsome man in the world. He was in our grade, and I never even paid attention to him until then.

Jared Cameron and I had been in all the same classes in elementary school, and we were in similar classes in middle school. My friends and his friends never mixed, so I didn't think of him more than that. But when February of freshman year came around, I could not stop thinking about him, and he didn't even spare me a glance. It drove me crazy, and all of my friends knew it. They all wanted to help me try and get him to notice me, but I just shook them away and told them that he would notice me in time. He never did.

I went to prom with my friend, Blake Conia, but in all that time, I thought of Jared. I started to become distant with my two closest friends when my parents announced that they were getting a divorce the last day of school freshman year. That's when the custody battles started for them, and the panic attacks started for me. I went into depression, and that's when I quit cheerleading. I had an on and off thing with Blake, but I don't think I ever had any true feelings for him. I think I just thought of him as a best friend. He graduated at the end of my sophomore year, and left La Push to go to some college in Illinois. That's when I realized that I ditched all my friends. I made sure I made friends, so I was nice to everyone, even though I had severe depression and anxiety.

People would take me to parties, but I never drank. I still had fun though. There was one night though; Halloween of my junior year I threw the one and only party that I would ever have, and it was a bad night. I drank way too much, and apparently Jared Cameron came to my party, but I was too busy blacking out under the beer pong table for him to notice, or for me to notice.

"You could have had him," my friend, Rebecca would say. She's only a sophomore, but I love her to death. I swore I wouldn't do anything like that again because I made a complete fool of myself. Now he's dating some girl named Jamie who supposedly gets drunk every night and blacks out, and doesn't even make it to school because of that.

It's February of my junior year of high school, and I just got up to stare at myself in my bathroom mirror, only to look at myself in disappointment. I've changed so much since my freshman year. I brushed my hair to make myself look decent, and just threw on a pair of old jeans that had holes in the knees. Because of my depression, I became a complete twig of a person, but I'm finally gaining weight so I can get back to the appropriate body weight that I should be at for my height. I'm one hundred and three point six pounds, and I'm supposed to be one twenty-five. I also threw on a thick, royal blue sweater, and sparkly black flats. I hardly ever wear makeup, so I just applied clear lip gloss before I grabbed my letterman jacket and left my father's two story house.

I stood on the porch and I scowled at the fact that it was pouring down rain, and it was the middle of February. The stupid warm front has caused it to rain, but it's supposed to get down to eighteen degrees by the end of the day, meaning that the roads were going to be icy. I silently thanked my mother for giving me a jeep. I ran through my muddy driveway and hopped in my jeep, angry about the fact that I ruined my shoes. I was already late. Thankfully I had a pair of sperrys somewhere in the back seat.

I drove to La Push High School, home of the mighty wolves and parked at my usual parking spot. The school was on a cliff and it overlooked the gray ocean. On really bad days, I would wish that there would be a mudslide from all this rain and the school would slide right off of the cliff. Unfortunately, the cliff is solid rock, so there is no chance of that happening.

I rain inside school to try and keep my hair as dry as possible, but that didn't help at all. It was already storming badly and you could barely see a foot in front of you that's how much rain there was. I silently patted myself on the back for always keeping a spare set of clothes in my locker. I ran to my locker which was in the basement part of the school to find my maroon, La Push hoody and another pair of torn up jeans. I changed into them quickly in the girls bathroom before I headed up to the library to meet up with my friend Lizzy and Katie and their boyfriends. Lizzy's boyfriend, Christian, was a complete pothead, but he was pretty cool, minus the fact that he was a complete ass to Lizzy. He always talked about Jared when I was around because he knew that I had been crushing on him since freshman year.

"Jared hasn't been to school all week," he commented when I sat down, and I immediately flushed.

"And," I tried to act like I didn't care, but I looked at him, waiting for an answer because I was actually pretty worried about him.

"He apparently has a bad case of mono," Christian snorted and I looked down at my hands. Mono can keep you out of school for months.

"If he has mono," Lizzy spoke up, "then why do I always see him hanging around Sam Uley and Paul?"

"I don't know; that's just what I heard."

"Sounds like he doesn't have mono, and he just wants to skip," Katie snorted, "I thought Sam Uley was considered the golden boy to the Elders."

"He is," Lizzy agreed, nodding her head, "He is pretty awesome though."

"Sam Uley can go suck a dick," I muttered and they all looked at me confused for a second, before they realized why I said that.

"You're right," Katie agreed, "He's totally a dick."

"Maybe you'll be the next cousin," Christian winked and I stood up angrily before I walked away to my first period class.

I hated Sam for doing that to Leah. He and Leah were engaged, and then he met Emily for the first time, two days before their wedding, and the next thing you know, the wedding's off, and Sam is practically stalking Emily. Leah hasn't been the same since.

I sat down in my chair in the back of my English class and tried to tune out the guy next to me. He talks so much, and it is so annoying. It's morning! Learn to shut up for once! I tried to focus on something other than him. Like Jared. We shared this class together, along with Pre-Calculus, homeroom, and physics. He sits pretty close to me in every one of those classes, but he still doesn't notice me. He never comes to this class until halfway through the period, for he's always late to school, but my teacher, Mr. Billy Black, never counts him absent. In this class, he sits to the right, diagonal from me. In my pre-calculus class, he sits right behind me. In my homeroom, he sits to the left of me, and in my physics class, he sits to the right of me, and back one seat. He's never even spared me a glance, and I've been way too nervous to actually turn to him and try to talk to him. Paul Lahote, Jared's best friend, who is also one of my best friends, has even tried to make obvious hints to make him check me out, but Jared is _always_ distracted with something else. Paul and Jared have always been best friends, so he won't do anything that Jared doesn't want to do.

Physics soon rolled around and my stomach went into knots when I realized that Jared still wasn't there. I turned around to talk to Paul, and he just looked madder than he ever has before.

"What do you want, Kimberly," he growled and I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Really Paul," I laughed, "Kimberly? Why are you so mad?"

"It's none of your damn business," he snarled and I just smiled at him. Paul might intimidate other people when he's mad, but I honestly think that it's entertaining.

"Well, fine," I shrugged, "I won't ask that. Do you know where Jared is?"

"Haven't you heard? He has a bad case of mono," he just rolled his eyes and I decided to push him more.

"Right," I said, "Just like you did, but whenever I called your house one night, your mom said you hadn't been home for days."

"If you wanna know where Jared is then why don't you call and ask him your fucking self!" he yelled and everyone in my class turned around and looked at him which seemed to infuriate him even more.

"Geez," I held my hands up in submission, "no need to be a dick."

"I've just been in a pissy mood lately. Jared should be back at school tomorrow," Paul sighed, "I just don't think it would be a good idea to talk to him tomorrow. He won't be… Feeling well."

"You actually think that I would talk to him tomorrow?" I laughed, "I have tried so many times to actually talk to him that I've just about given up on it all."

"He'll just be different, that's all," Paul replied, "Just don't gawk at him because I know you will." I just gave him a small laugh. What the hell did that mean? I decided to not let it bother me because, why should it? Jared hasn't looked at me once except for when we were in kindergarten. He used to follow me around like a puppy and it was so annoying. He picked me lilies from the school's flower garden and told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. I then punched him in the stomach, called him weird, and ran to go play on the swings with my other friends.

I giggled in class at the thought and people turned around to look at me causing me to blush. Jared doesn't even remember my name because after that, we completely ignored each other.

The rest of the day went by excruciatingly slowly, especially since I knew that Jared was coming back to school. I do know one thing though. Jared Cameron did not have mono, and he was not coming back as the same person. School finally got out, and I tried to beat the crowd of students that were soon going to be filling up the parking lot and throwing snowballs at each other. I was dreading driving because I knew that under all the snow was a thick sheet of ice; just as I had predicted this morning. I tried not slipping as I continued to walk outside, and I gracefully made it to my jeep. When I say gracefully, I mean holding onto each car while heading to my jeep while trying to keep my feet from slipping out from under me.

I had to go to work. Most kids in La Push had a job due to the fact that our little reservation didn't have a lot of money. Most of the guys worked on cars or carpentry, while the girls worked in restaurants and stores. I was one of the lucky few that had an interesting job. I wasn't a professional, but throughout my high school career, I had managed to become known as the town's interior designer. I had started with just getting bored with my own room all the time, and then when my parents got divorced I redid both of their homes. The word got around, and before I knew it, people were paying me to do their own homes.

I just started on officer Swan's daughter's bedroom. Apparently she was moving back in a few days, and it was still a nursery from when she still lived here. I had never really known her, but I knew officer swan really well from my older sister's rebellion.

"Kim!" Officer Swan greeted me when I knocked on his door.

"Hello Officer Swan," I smiled nervously. He invited me in.

"I told you, Kim, it's Charlie when I'm not on duty," he smiled and led me up to Bella's room. It was completely empty except for the new dark linoleum floors that I suggested him to get. I was going to paint her room a teal color, based on what Officer Swan said she was like. The paint I had covered the wall in one coat thankfully, and I started to figure out how I was going to lay out the room based on what I suggested that he should buy. He was worried about Bella moving back. My family knew him really well, and based on from what I had heard, he's worried that he won't be good enough for Bella.

Since I got the insta-dry paint, I was soon able to start hanging up paper lanterns along her room, and with Officer Swan's help, I managed to move her full-sized bed into an indention in the wall. He bed spread was a light grey-blue color with black poppy flowers on it. I then put up an empty, grey-blue, memory board for her to put her pictures in for when she moved here and then hung up framed posters of some of Arizona's best sights since I know she would miss it. I moved the dressers and hung up shelves, and before I knew it, I was almost completely done. I added silver sheer curtains and sat down on her bed out of being so exhausted. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead and jumped when Officer Swan cleared his throat.

"O-officer Swan," I stuttered in surprise, "I'm so sorry, I was just relaxing for a second. I'll keep wor-"

"Kim, stop your worrying," he chuckled, "And it's Charlie. I just wanted to give you this before I head out." He held out his hand, and I was shocked to see two, hundred dollar bills.

"Charlie, I can't take that," I protested, "I only charge ten dollars an hour."

"No, no," he smiled, "Take it. Put it in your gas tank. It means a lot that you could do this on such short notice. You're Aunt said it was too much like a baby girl's room and told me about your work. You really did such a great job."

I steadily took the money and smiled, "Well thank you, Charlie. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yeah, one more thing," he said and handed me a painting of a russet colored wolf in the snow, "Jacob Black made this for her and gave it to me. I thought it'd be a good idea to hang it up somewhere."

"Oh, no problem!" I smiled and looked around the room to see where I would hang it up. I decided on hanging it up right by the door so she would see it every day. "You know that's our tribe's animal. We're supposedly descendants of wolves."

"Yes, that's what I've heard," he mumbled, "that's probably why Jacob painted a wolf."

I soon headed out after Charlie and cursed quietly to myself when I realized that there was a blizzard again. I hopped in my jeep and drove home carefully. We all know that there are way too many wrecks this time of year for this small of town. I made it home to my house, and waited a little bit before I got out of the car. When my parents got a divorce, my mom fled the town to go live close to her distant cousin, Angela, in Lexington, Kentucky. My dad got remarried soon after the divorce, giving me a younger step sister. She was everything my father had asked for. I was somehow the 'rebellious' child in his eyes which I don't understand because both my older brother and my older sister were way more rebellious than I am.

It was eight thirty, and I was already exhausted from all the work that I had done today and I still had to do my homework and take a shower. I tried to sneak inside, unnoticed, but it didn't work.

"Kimberly," my dad called when I walked into my house and I cringed. I absolutely hated it when people called me Kimberly.

"Yes?" I asked and walked into the living room where he, my step mother, and my step sister were seated.

"You missed dinner," he commented and I tried not to roll my eyes. My dad treated me like such a baby sometimes.

"Well I told you I had to work."

"I don't want you working during the weeks," he replied and anger boiled up inside of me.

"Well I need to since you don't pay for my gas, my insurance, or my lunch money at school. You also won't pay for new clothes for me, my phone bill, and for even a haircut. I need this job. Instead you're paying for yet another one of Carli's new toys. Like an Ipad or her new motor scooter," I sneered.

"Well you never ask me to," he defended and I glared at him.

"I don't wanna hear it Dad," I snapped, "you aren't even paying for my college. That's why I'm working on interior design so much. So I can get as far away from here as possible and so I can be closer to mom." With that, I stomped up the stairs and took a fast shower. After the shower, I walked into my room and slammed the door shut.

My room was a huge bonus room with slanted ceilings. The walls were mainly a bright white, but on the smaller side walls, there were thick, horizontal, black and white stripes. My room was black and white themed with all black furniture. I had a queen-sized bed with a feather blanket. The duvet cover was black and white and looked like a news paper that said stuff like Paris, New York, and Tokyo in bold. My walls had posters of the Eifel tower, and I had my favorite Marilyn Monroe quote on the wall.

"_Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."-Marilyn Monroe_

I had a leather sofa and a new 39" flat screen. I paid for absolutely everything in my room. I was greeted by my adorable black and white Pomsky; a Pomeranian husky mix. Her name was Paris, and I was absolutely in love with her. Blake gave her to me as a goodbye present.

"I hate living here," I muttered in my dog's soft fur, and she whimpered as if she was agreeing.

I spent the rest of the night reading and doing homework, and eventually fell asleep, but only to wake up in the middle of the night from hearing howls coming from the woods behind my house. I shuttered and looked outside, only to see darkness. I soon fell back asleep to have dreams filled with wolves, and Jared Cameron.

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**Please review and tell me your thoughts about your background on Kim. It means a lot! Thanks :)**

**-S.**


	2. Chapter 2: Notice Me

**Hello again! So here's chapter two! I can't decide if I like the way I did it yet, so I might come back and revise it later, but I'll let you guys know if I do. So I have had an absolutely horrible week and tonight I sort of just cracked so I've been moping around and crying and it is just horrible! I really need some reviews to cheer me up. Please read and review! It would mean a lot to me. Thanks!**

**-S**

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_"You are braver than you believe., stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.." -Christopher Robin_

I couldn't sleep very well that night due to the fact that I kept hearing wolf howls and I couldn't get over the excitement that Jared was coming back to school tomorrow. Although, yes, I had pretty much given up hope that Jared would ever notice me, I still had a tiny glimmer of hope that he would. My goal was to make myself prettier than I actually was, so when morning came around, I hopped out of bed and started sorting through my closet of all the things that I could possibly wear. I tried on about fifty different combinations of outfits before I decided on a black and dark grey, long-sleeved sweater dress, black leggings, and dark, grey flats with black bows on them. I attempted to do water fall braids with my impossibly thick hair, and by the time that I was done, it looked kind of decent. I applied light pink lip gloss and was downstairs picking out a flavor of poptarts before I knew it.

My step-sister was at the kitchen counter, swinging her legs, and humming quietly to herself. She went to Forks High School, so she didn't have to leave for at least another hour in which I envied her for.

She was about five foot four with a pale complexion, and when I mean pale, I mean snow white. She had stringy, black hair, squinty, brown eyes, and thin lips. She's a sophomore and one of the weirdest ones that I've met.

"Why are you so spaztic this morning?" she asked, noticing how I almost put a box of poptarts in the fridge.

"Um, I-I," I stuttered while trying to think of a good lie to tell my sister, "I have a big physics test today, and you know how horrible I am at physics." She looked at me questionably, seeing straight through my lie, but she didn't say anything else. I sighed in relief. I don't know what I would have done if I would have had to explain to Carli that the entire reason that I was getting to school early was because I knew Jared was coming back, and I wanted to look decent for his arrival even though I knew that he would never notice me no matter what I did. Just the thought of telling someone that made me feel like a desperate train wreck.

I arrived to school quickly due to the fact that I was earlier than normal, so there wasn't much traffic at all. I forced myself to relax once I parked in my usual parking spot in the school's parking lot. I stayed in the car because I knew that Lizzy and Katie weren't in the library because Katie's car wasn't even here yet. Lizzy doesn't have her license yet even though her sixteenth birthday was last April. She snuck out of her house one night, took her mom's Mercedes Benz, and wrecked it, so her mom isn't letting her get her license until she's eighteen.

I pulled out my diary to write in because I hadn't since Monday. I haven't been able to write anything because nothing has seemed important since Jared hasn't been in school. I have a lock on my journal because I can only imagine the embarrassment that I would go through if someone actually read it. My face flushed at the thought. No one, and I mean no one, has ever laid their eyes in this book. There are plots of me getting Jared's attention, and even fantasies about was going to happen once I finally got his attention. There were even plans for my wedding day in here, and Jared was just coincidentally placed as the groom. Okay, who am I lying to? Clearly I was lying to myself because Jared being the groom was the absolute first thing that I had mentioned.

_On mine and Jared's wedding day…_

I laughed at the thought that I actually signed my name as Kimberly Ann Cameron at the end of that journal entry. Yes, I know that Jared and I are never in a million years getting married, but what's the harm in a little imagination? I opened my journal and began to write, but not before I made sure that my car was locked. I also made sure that no one else was around so they couldn't see what I was writing. Once I was sure that no one was around, I began to write.

_February 11_

_So according to Paul, Jared is finally coming back to school today, and he basically told me that Jared didn't have mono. What does he have, and why did he miss so many days of school? Jared was a normal student when it came to coming to school. He would come most days, and then he would take a day off to himself or if he was sick just like everyone else who went to our school. This is the most that Jared has missed all year, and it was making me anxious thinking about what he was actually doing. Felt uncomfortable when Jared wasn't at school because he eased my stress. I wore one of my favorite outfits today in hopes that he would actually notice me. Oh my gosh, what if he did notice me? What would I say to him? What would I do if he asked me on a date?! Who am I kidding, is that even a question? Of course I would say yes! I'm cheesin cheek to cheek just thinking about it. He was so perfect. His five ten height may not be as tall as I would like him to be, but he was pretty damn perfect. Everything about him was perfect right down to his dark, brown hair that has hints of copper and caramel. It swooped in front of his eyes and his eye lashes were long and beautiful and brushed across his cheeks whenever he closed his eyes. He still has a boyish face, but that will go away once he gets older. I can seriously never stop thinking about him no matter how hard I try. Jeanette, Lizzy, and Katie all thought that he was drop dead gorgeous, but they never got those butterflies in their stomachs every time they saw him like I did. I just felt a spark in my heart that tingled throughout my entire body. I've never fallen so head over heels over someone like this be-_

There was a knock at my window that nearly made me jump right out of my skin. I looked over and saw Paul looking at me, signaling me to roll down my window. I closed my journal and locked it quickly before I stashed it away in my purse. I rolled down my window and Paul was smirking and me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"You look rather nice today," he smirked again and I flipped him off.

"What do you want?" I asked angrily.

"Will you just let me in so I can talk to you? It's fucking cold outside." I rolled up my window and unlocked my doors. He walked quickly around my jeep and hopped inside the passenger door.

"By the way," I commented, "you never get cold; I know you better than that."

"I know I don't," he winked, "I just didn't want to stand outside to talk to you."

"You're a goob," I laughed.

"So what was that you were writing in, a journal?" Paul wiggled his eyebrows and nudged me.

"Nothing," I snapped, "It's private."

"Oh, so there's stuff about Jared in there," he winked and I punched his arm, causing my knuckles to crack.

"Ow, damnit!" I cursed and held my hand.

"You shouldn't have done that," Paul teased, "I have muscles of steal!"

"Oh shut up," I rolled my eyes and looked at him annoyed, "what do you even want to talk to me about?"

"Don't talk to Jared," Paul warned and his eyes darkened, "he's on.. edge, you could say."

"You actually thought I would talk to him?" I chocked, "If I would have tried to talk to him, I would have already."

"You're saying that, and yet you actually care about what you look like today?" he said it as if it was a question. I looked down and blushed as I realized how pathetic I must seem.

"I was hoping that he would notice me," I whispered, my voice cracked, "now I'm just realizing how pathetic I must seem.

"You aren't pathetic, Kim," Paul rolled his eyes, "You look fine."

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to cry," I muttered.

"No I'm not," he replied, "but don't get your hopes up, Kim, if he hasn't noticed you now, he probably never will." I didn't say anything and continued to look down. I knew he was telling the truth. That was the problem with Paul, he always told the truth.

"And," he added, "If he does on the slight chance notice you, you would have a lot of competition to keep his attention."

"Are you saying I'm not good enough for him?" I accused, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

"I'm just saying that there are a lot of girls in this school. There a lot more girls in this school than you think. There are in fact a lot of girls prettier than you, Kim."

"Why the fuck would you say that to me?" I tried to keep the tears from spilling over, but failed.

"Just speaking the truth," Paul shrugged, "And trust me, there will be a lot of girls chasing him around now that he's back."

"Why?" I asked, wiping the tears away as quickly as I could.

"You'll see, but I'm warning you. Don't be disappointed if Quil just thinks you're an average girl." I took a pencil and threw it at him as hard as I could. It bounced off his arm effortlessly and he glared at me and started to shake.

"Get the fuck out of my car you insensitive asshole," I yelled and he opened the door and stepped out.

"Gladly!" he shouted and slammed my car door shut I heard a crunch and I cursed silently to myself. I got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side door. It was slightly bent in. I tried to open the door, but it was jammed.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled and kicked the tire. I squatted on the ground and put my head in my hands and started crying. Who knows how much that fix would cost, plus I don't have the money, and how would I explain to my dad that a guy did this to my Jeep. How did he do this to my jeep? I returned to the driver's seat and pulled down the visor so I could check my makeup in the mirror. My eyes were red, and my makeup was running down my face. I had to remove and reapply my makeup so I wouldn't look horrible when I walked into school. I took a couple of deep breaths before I finally decided to walk into school.

That was the way Paul was. One minute he would be awesome, but then the next, he would be a complete dick. You never knew with him, but he tells the truth when you need to hear it the most. It makes me feel better at the end of the day even if it hurts like a bitch at first. The crisp, cold wind whipped across my face when I walked outside. It felt almost as if it was a burn, but then it left you feeling refreshed. I went to my English class instead of going to the library this morning. I didn't feel like talking to Katie, Lizzy, and especially Christian. My excitement high went away once Paul smacked me in the face of reality and now all I could think about was getting through the day without being embarrassed. It's very unlikely for that to happen.

English class started and I put my headphones in my ear so I could ignore the annoying guy that sat next to me. It is seriously like he never shut up. Why does he have to talk this much? I consider telling him to shut up, but I can't pull myself together to do that. My ego was down.

I didn't even notice when Jared walked into the room, for I was too involved in the book we were reading in class. I looked up to look up at the clock that was by the door and my heart fluttered when I saw the familiar figure in front and to the right of me. He got a haircut? From what I could tell, he had cropped his hair. If only I could tell what the front looked like.

The bell rang shortly later, and I ran out in front of him so I could walk in front of him so he could hopefully notice me swaying my hips. Of course he didn't as far as I could tell. We reached our pre-calculus class, and I was ignored, as usual, but I tried to hold back a gasp whenever I got the full view of Jared. He had grown, and not just a little bit. He had a fucking growth spurt! He was at least six foot eight and his muscles were much bigger and more defined. His baby face was gone and replaced with a strong jaw. His hair was cropped short revealing his beautiful green eyes. He was drop dead gorgeous.

Jared was wearing an unbuttoned, light blue oxford shirt that showed his white wife-beater that showed off his chest and abdominal muscles. He was also wearing raggedy old blue jeans. He was so damn gorgeous and my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. As normal, he didn't notice me, but I thought I saw him glance in my direction.

The entire class, I kept hearing him and this guy named Ben whispering behind me. I strained my ears to try and hear what they were saying, but I couldn't hear them. I sighed from frustration, and the whispering suddenly stopped. I caught myself from turning my head to see why they stopped so quickly. Surely it wasn't because I sighed. I decided to disregard those thoughts.

During homeroom, as I was hiding my face with my hair from Jared so he wouldn't notice me. I hated my hair in my face even a little bit, so I tried to think of other ways that I could hid my face from him without looking like a complete moron. Thankfully, Paul came in the room and asked my teacher to dismiss him from homeroom for a little bit because Mr. Black needed to speak with him. I noticed that Jared looked at Paul darkly, and they spoke to each other through their eyes with unspoken words. I couldn't help but stare at them when they continued to stare at each other. After Jared went through that growth spurt, Paul and Jared seemed to look more like brothers than best friends. Now that I think of it, Paul also went through almost the exact same thing that Jared did, only at the beginning of the year. Paul just didn't have the effect that Jared had on me, so I guess I didn't notice it as much. Paul was scrawny and about five eight, and then he disappeared for two weeks just like Jared did. When Paul came back, he was six foot two, buff, his hair was cropped the exact same way, and it's like he matured to an adult all in the matters of two weeks. That is definitely not mono. What the hell was it.

Physics came around and Paul had beat Jared to the room. He seemed pissed off at usual, but he was glaring at me.

"What?" I asked him as I sat in my seat that was directly in front of him. I turned to face him, and he still had the dark and angry facial expression. "Seriously, Paul, if you're still mad from this morning, then you should get over it and I should be the one mad at you since you broke my passenger door."

"Sorry," he muttered and continued to glare at me.

"What the hell is your problem?" I snapped at him and his face lightened more, as if he just realized that I was talking to him.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I was just thinking. And sorry about your door; I'll have someone fix it and I'll pay for it."

"Thanks, I can't afford that fix," I said and turned back around quickly and hid my face when I heard Jared's voice when he came in the room. I heard Paul chuckle at me and I thought about turning around to tell him to fuck off, but I remembered that Jared was now sitting there, so I refrained myself from speaking. It was a free period in class today, so Jeanette came over and sat to my right to talk to me.

"You look pretty today," she smiled and I gave her a half smile back.

"Thanks. Some people," I said louder than normal, "told me differently." Jeanette looked at Paul and glared at him for a split second before returning her attention back to me.

"Well ignore people like Paul," she smirked, knowing that he was listening to what we were saying, "They just like to be assholes."

Paul then spoke over us, "Hey Jared, you know what I think is kind of pathetic?"

"What?" his tone of voice seemed like he really didn't care, and that he didn't even know why Paul was bringing that up. Of course he wouldn't know why Paul was saying that. He wasn't paying attention to what Jeanette and I were saying because he's never even batted an eye in our direction.

"When girls make themselves prettier than normal to attract a guy's attention that doesn't even know that she exists," he said lightly and I felt the blood rush to my face.

"Paul Lahote, you stupid son of a bi-," I turned my body around to go off on him, but I stopped when Jared and I looked at each other straight in the eyes. It was as if we were the only people in the room. I could feel the gravity between us, and my heart felt like it could explode any second that's how fast it was beating. I sucked in a raggedy breath and so did Jared. I was then pulled out of my trance when I heard Jeanette call my name a couple of times.

"Helloo," She said while snapping her fingers in front of my face, "Earth to Kim."

I blinked a couple of times before I looked in her direction, "Huh?"

I felt so dazed, and I felt like I had just gotten out of a hot, steamy shower.

"Son of a bitch," Paul muttered, but I didn't turn around. It was if I could feel Jared's gaze on me. What the hell was that? If I thought that my thoughts were filled with Jared before, I was so wrong. My head was filled with thoughts of me and Jared. The both of us having a tickle fight and playing in the ocean. Him leaning down to kiss me. My heart started beating quickly at the thought, and I felt the blood rush to my face in embarrassment.

"Kim!" Jeanette spoke again, grabbing my attention, "Jesus what is your deal?"

"I don't know," I muttered, shaking my head, but I knew exactly what it was. Jared Cameron noticed me.

* * *

**The next chapter should be up very soon, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to put in Jared's point of view or wait another chapter. Let me know your opinions and it may help me make a decision. Please review! It would mean a lot to me, and it gives me motivation! Thanks!**

**-S.**


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